The Easter Bunny Unmasked
by SistaSouljah
Summary: A curious 4-year old plus Greg in an Easter Bunny costume equals?


The Easter Bunny Unmasked

Disclaimer: If it's familiar to you, it doesn't belong to me.

A/N: A belated Easter gift, from me to you.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"It's got to be victim blood," Catherine said.

"It better be," Warrick replied as he walked with Catherine to the DNA lab.  "Otherwise it's back to square one, and then we'll definitely be pulling a double."

It was almost ten in the morning, but the two still hadn't solved their case yet.  They were hoping Greg would have good news for them so they could wrap up and go home.  They reached the doorway of the DNA lab but stopped dead in their tracks when they saw the figure seated on the lab stool.

Catherine looked at Warrick and then back at the Easter Bunny in a lab coat that was loading the GC/MS machine.  "Uh, Greg?"

"Yeah?" Greg replied in a muffled voice as he looked up.

"What are you doing?" Catherine gave him a look.

"Nick and Sara wanted me to ID this residue they found on their vic so I'm-"

"No, what's with the getup?" Catherine interrupted.

"Oh, you mean my Easter Bunny costume.  Pretty awesome, huh?"  Greg grinned, although it was hidden inside the giant rabbit head.  "Just trying to spread some Easter cheer."

"Has Griss seen you working with this thing on?" Warrick asked.

"Relax, I'm not wearing the paws, I have gloves on."  He raised his latex-gloved hands to show them.  "And I take the head off when I'm using the microscope."

Catherine rolled her eyes, too tired for fun and games.  "Did you ID the blood we found in the suspect's car?"

"Yeah."  Greg flipped through the stack of printouts until he found the right one.  "Not a match to your vic, CODIS didn't kick anything out."  He handed the results to Catherine.

Warrick let out an exasperated groan.  "Great.  Now what?"

"I don't know," Catherine sighed.

"Sorry," Greg replied.

Knowing they were going to be pulling a double, Catherine and Warrick headed for the break room for coffee.  When they walked in they saw a curly haired 4-year old seated at the table, sheets of paper and crayons scattered in front of her.

"Well hello there, Miss Isabella, what are you doing here?" Catherine smiled at the young girl.

"Mommy told me to wait here," Isabella replied, not looking up from her drawing.

"Looks like we're not the only ones still working," Warrick said as he filled his coffee mug to the brim.

"Some babysitters do not understand the word overtime," Catherine sighed.  Too many times had Lindsey been brought to the lab by a babysitter who refused to work a few extra hours when Catherine had to work overtime.

"Where does the Easter Bunny live?" Isabella asked the two adults.

"Uh, I don't know, sweetie.  Did you try asking your mom or dad?  I'm sure they know," Catherine smiled at the little girl.

"What are you drawing there, Izzy?"  Warrick asked as he sat down at the table.

"Me and mommy and daddy with the Easter Bunny."

"Wow, what a masterpiece," Warrick complimented.

"I drew one of you too."

"Me?"

"With Aunt Catherine."  She shuffled through her various drawings until she found it.  "See?" she held up the picture.

Warrick noticed Isabella had drawn several hearts around the two figures in the drawing, and it appeared they were holding hands.  "Are we holding hands?"

"Yep."

"Why?" Warrick asked, a little confused.

"Daddy said that when two people are in love they hold hands," Isabella replied.

Warrick stopped mid sip and almost spit out his coffee all over Isabella's drawing.

"He said what?" Catherine asked as she took the picture from Warrick to get a look at it.

"When two people are in love they hold hands," the little girl repeated.

"He said we were in love?" Warrick asked, incredulous.  He had no idea where that came from.

"Uh huh," Isabella nodded.

Warrick looked at Catherine, who merely shrugged, apparently just as confused as he was.

Isabella looked at the two adults.  "What's denial?"

"Denial, huh?" Warrick scoffed.  "Oh, your dad is gonna get it.  I swear, when I see him…" Warrick got up from the table and headed out the door, mumbling to himself.

"So what's denial?" Isabella turned to Catherine.

"It's what your parents were living in for four years before they realized they should be holding hands," Catherine replied with a smile as she left to catch up with Warrick.

~*~

After another hour of drawing, Isabella was starting to get bored.  Her mother said she'd be right back, but she hadn't returned so Isabella decided to go and look for her.  She walked out of the break room and started wandering the halls, peering into each of the labs as she passed by.  When she reached the lab at the end of the hall and looked through the glass, the frightening sight before her caused her to let out a mighty, ear-piercing shriek.

Not two seconds later, Nick came sprinting down the hall, knowing exactly who the scream belonged to.  He saw the little girl standing in front of the DNA lab, sobs racking her body.

"Hey, sweetpea, what happened?  What are you doing out here?" he scooped his daughter into his arms as he tried to calm her down.

Isabella buried her face into Nick's shirt as she continued crying, not wanting to look at the horrible sight anymore.  She pointed into the DNA lab.

Nick looked into the lab and saw Greg standing there.  His eyes immediately narrowed as he realized what had scared her.  "What's the matter with you, Greg?" Nick glared at him.

"What?  I didn't do anything!  I swear!" Greg defended.

Sara walked down the hall and noticed a small crowd congregated in front of the DNA lab.  "What's going on?" she asked Nick as she approached.  She saw Isabella crying in his arms and suddenly grew concerned.  "What happened?"

"Iz saw Greg. Like that," Nick gestured toward Greg.

"What's wrong with you, Greg?" Sara said angrily.

"What?  What did I do?" Greg asked, confused.  He had no idea what was going on.  One minute he was processing his DNA samples, minding his own business, and the next he had a 4-year old outside his lab screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Your costume.  Or should I say half-costume," Nick replied.

Greg looked down at the rabbit suit he was wearing.  "Oh." He finally realized what had traumatized the little girl.  He had taken off the rabbit head because he was having trouble breathing inside it.  The head was now sitting next to him on the benchtop, which made Greg look like a headless Easter Bunny.  "Sorry.  How was I supposed to know she'd be wandering around the lab?"

Sara let out a groan.  "Ugh, I was supposed to check on her," she finally remembered.

"You left her alone?"  Nick looked at Sara.

"Archie paged me.  I told her to stay in the break room.  I was supposed to be gone for two minutes, but then Brass called me and I got distracted."

"See, it's not my fault.  You just have bad parenting skills," Greg teased.

Sara glared at him.  "What are you doing wearing that stupid thing anyway?"

~*~

Greg walked into the break room, sans the Easter Bunny costume, in search of Isabella.  He approached cautiously as he saw the girl curled up at the end of the couch watching cartoons on TV.

"Hey Izzy," he greeted as he sat down at the opposite end of the couch.

She eyed him suspiciously but didn't say anything.

"Listen, um, about what you saw earlier.  See, I was just dressing up, you know, pretending that I was the Easter Bunny."

"Pretending?" Isabella asked in a small voice.

"Yeah, like on Halloween, when you dress up in costumes.  You know, once, I dressed up as a scary monster, and I scared your mom so bad that she got really mad at me, and she chased me all around the building," Greg winked, causing Isabella to giggle.

"So see, I was just wearing an Easter Bunny costume," Greg continued.  "And the Easter Bunny's not scary, right?"

"No," Isabella smiled.

"Well, I know it might be hard to forgive me after I upset you like that, so I thought this might help." Greg reached behind his back and pulled out a box, in it a foot tall Easter Bunny carved from solid milk chocolate.

Isabella's eyes grew wide as she grabbed the box, mesmerized by the giant piece of candy.

"So we're still buddies, right?" Greg asked.

"Yeah," Isabella smiled.

"Can I get a kiss?" Greg pointed to his cheek.

Isabella rose to her knees and leaned in to peck Greg on the cheek.  Greg brought his hands to his heart and sighed as he fell back onto the cushions pretending to faint, causing Isabella to burst into laughter.

~The End~

~*~*~*~*~*~*~


End file.
